Chile is also not really viewed as a threat to global stability. With the move of the border, Santiago is almost as exposed to the Argentines as DC was to the Confederates. Align *any* of the South American Pacific Nations (Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, or Bolivia) with Argentina and together they can almost duplicate what was done to Chile in the GAW.
Into the Cincoverse - The Cinco de Mayo EU Thread and Wikibox Repository
- Thread starter KingSweden24
- Start date
The more direct inspiration is more successful post-Soviet transitions like Romania or Poland rather than the USSR itself, since nobody is considering Chile a big red menace (and doing an “inverse” of OTL post-1990 Chile while I’m at it)
Just curious, in the year 2023 iTTL are there any nations with Naval Limits set prior to 1923: CSA, Chile, France(?) that are still in effect?
I honestly feel like the members of the CEW winning side are going to be saying about the situation post-war, we could have to deal with what the USA is dealing with in the Confederacy right now. At *worst* the French are going to have the first 20 people in line for the Emperorship killed/exiled, a German Ruhr and an Italian restored Savoy and lose every possession other than Algeria. I also seriously doubt the Germans/Italians are have to do to Nantes what the USA had to do to Atlanta.
Since 2002 is going to be the 2008 of the Cincoverse, I bet the SARS outbreak of the 2000s is to be COVID of Cincoverse
I wonder if France will lose Corsica - either as an in independent kingdom, or being annexed to Italy - which would be the ultimate snub to the Bonaparte dynasty (though we don't know whether Nappy V's rule is going to collapse in the aftermath of the war or stagger one for another decade or so before the Second Empire is swept away)
Thats a solid bet
A hundred years is a long time for such limits to survive
Corsica was always painted Italian on Irredenta maps for a reason
But at the same time, I can not see Germans deciding to give them Corsica. I can see Nice and few other bits going, but Corsica is just too big of a prize to be given.
Perhaps some kind of Kingdom is established, led by some Savoy noble?
Or to make it more of a snub, given to Bourbons?
“We’re allowed unlimited tonnage of missile frigates and aircraft carriers, dammit!”
“The agreement clearly was intended to bar development of all unlisted types, you’re not allowed any of either!”
There is an OTL north korean football player called Jong Il-gwan. Is it a typo, or does the name change imply a greater amount of christians in Korea?
Ranking the 8+4 Era Rose Bowl Champions - 30-21
Michigan holding up the Rose Bowl trophy after beating Washington a second consecutive time on January 1st marks not just them cementing their dynast status but also the end of an era, for on February 1st, the Ivy League and Catholic Athletic League both will formally withdraw by mutual consent from their arrangements with Rugby USA and exclusively partner with the IAA for all sports, thus ending thirty-two years of eight leagues participating in the Rose Bowl Playoff. The epitome of that era, however, was the "8+4" or Wild Card era of the Rose Bowl; starting in 1994, it was not just the eight league champions who played but those eight champions and whoever the AP Poll, Coaches Poll and a board of Rugby USA voters all determined were the next four best squads. To say that this dramatically reshaped the playoff twelve years into its existence would be an understatement. So who, out of this age, were the best champions of the sport? The eight-team era from 1982-93 has its head-and-shoulders titans in 1989 Notre Dame, 1991 Washington and 1985 Michigan; of the thirty teams that lofted the Rose Bowl Trophy in Pasadena on New Years Day since January 1, 1995, where do they all rank?
30. 2011 Wisconsin - These Badgers get the lowest rung on this list for a very straightforward reason - they remain the lowest-ranked wild card team to advance to a Rose Bowl, had two losses, and did it a year after being the first wild-card team to win a Rose Bowl. The 2010 group was more talented and had the scalp of undefeated two-time national champion Ohio State on its roster, but you only play the games in front of you, and this Badger team won a tough road gauntlet of Kansas State, top-ranked Oregon, and second-ranked Michigan State in a revenge match in East Lansing on its way to facing off against West Virginia in Pasadena, winning on a late drop kick. The "Gang at Twelve" will always be legends in bringing a repeat championship to Madison, and are probably a fan favorite, but they were probably not the best team that year, just the team that got hot at the right team.
29. 2010 Wisconsin - The 2010 Badgers dropped only a match to Michigan State and for that got the 9-seed, punctuating their season with a glorious upset of two-time national champions Ohio State at home in Madison as what was at that time the only blemish on the Buckeyes' record. Led by Chris Boland and JJ Watt in rucks, the Badgers dominated the scrum all year long and engineered road upsets of decent Nebraska and Utah groups on the road before taking on Oregon in Pasadena, handing the Ducks their second consecutive Rose Bowl loss in added minutes to become the first-ever wild card to win the Rose Bowl - and then watched a less talented, less winning group do it again the next year.
28. 2003 Pittsburgh - The 2003 Panthers delivered Pitt its first championship since 1987 in dazzling fashion, with all-time fly-half Larry Fitzgerald carrying Dave Wannstedt's team on his back to both a Heisman and the Rose Bowl. The reputation of the '03 Panthers as a one-man show is unfair, but its not clear that this was even the best or most balanced group Wannstedt managed. Pitt got a Kansas State at the end of its playoff run and an Ohio State depleted by graduations from its national championship roster and beat up over two hard road games in the first two rounds before facing an overrated Michigan missing several players due to arrests at a New Year's Eve party brawl in Los Angeles the night before. Do they deserve an asterisk? Hardly, but they definitely don't warrant higher on this list.
27. 2006 Rutgers - Despite the ample talent in New Jersey prep rugby ranks, the state's reputation as a youth football hotbed and Rutgers' status as a footballing powerhouse have always given Scarlet Knights rugby short shrift. Not in 2006, though, where a group powered by Brian Cushing and Ray Rice earned a 3-seed in the Playoff and defeated USC at home before scoring one of the great upsets in the history of the game knocking out mighty undefeated Michigan, which most sportswriters had already assumed would win the championship, in extra time. Greg Schiano will forever be a hero in Brunswick, New Jersey - a shame Rutgers never advanced to a playoff after 2006 to show what they could do, and that they advanced through what was considered even then an unusually weak Playoff field.
26. 2009 Ohio State - The Buckeyes of 2009 joined the 2011 Badgers as one of two sides to win a national championship with two losses, and only belong here due to A) winning the Big Eight anyways and B) blasting their way through the Playoffs as an unstoppable juggernaut culminating with a domination of Oregon in the Rose Bowl. Nonetheless, this is easily the worst of Jim Tressel's five championship rosters in Columbus, and one can make a credible argument they were not even the best team in the Big Eight that season with some lucky breaks along the way; a home loss to a mediocre USC in the second match of the season is often forgiven here, as their destruction at the Coliseum to kick off 2008 is, too.
25. 2001 Illinois - The 2001 season was famed for its twists and turns, and its conclusion - with Illinois defeating Oregon in a 44-42 thriller to earn its first national championship since 1983 - was no different. The Illini got an unearned reputation for being "lucky," but being the last team standing in a year of upsets and teams bursting suddenly onto the scene is as much an achievement as more famed groups with deeper talent.
24. 2020 Notre Dame
23. 1998 Arizona State - The '98 Sun Devils have always lived in the long shadow of the 1996 squad that went undefeated and eviscerated the competition two seasons earlier, but this group was no slouch, either. Dropping only their final game of the year to a talented Arizona side in their rivalry game, the Devils under Bruce Snyder earned a respectable 4 seed and beat a good emerging Marshall team at home before upsetting arguably John Cooper's finest group at Ohio State in the Horseshoe the next weekend and closed it all off by beating the heavily favored UCLA Bruins on home ground in the Rose Bowl. These Sun Devils get this ranking for numerous controversies and suspensions throughout the season and their reputation as the "Dirty Devils," and allegations of match fixing against BYU and Colorado have plagued them for decades since.
23. 2020 Notre Dame - Notre Dame brought home its first championship since 1993 a few years ago with a well-balanced group in an unusually weak field in what is widely regarded as one of the worst college rugby seasons in history (or best, if you like balance). As one of only three one-loss teams in the country, Notre Dame barely eked out victories at home against Indiana and Iowa State in the quarterfinal and semifinal before a match against a heavily favored Ohio State, whom the Irish upset thanks to a late fumble that Moses Williams ran back for an inexplicable try. Still, this wasn't a bad team, it just is one that you can't clearly place ahead of other groups on this list.
22. 1995 Colorado - This was the squad that finally got to the promised land - for years, Colorado had been one of the best teams in the country, always on the cusp of glory, almost keeping strong BYU, Colorado State and Arizona State squads at bay, only to be struck by playoff heartbreak. Their only loss was a non-conference rivalry defeat to Nebraska at home, otherwise the team was one of the highest-scoring in the country under first-year coach Rick Neuheisel, hired in a major gamble by the Colorado athletic department to shake things up. Colorado got its revenge on Nebraska in the semifinal, beating them in Lancaster, and then took out Cinderella squad Northwestern in the Rose Bowl to bring the first-ever national championship back to Boulder. Neuheisel's reign never reached those heights again, and often elicited more than a little controversy, but the Buffs will always have 1995, even if it quite plainly was not the best group in team history.
21. 2007 Oregon - This was the Oregon team that finally, at long last, got over the hump after so many years of it being said that Oregon was "close." Despite an ugly loss to California at home early in the year, the Ducks rallied and dominated the Pacific Eight the rest of the season, including a beatdown of USC. From the fourth seed, the Ducks' high-scoring squad led by Heisman winner Jonathan Stewart beat good BYU and Ohio State teams before facing top-ranked Missouri in Pasadena and beating them in a blowout to bring the first-ever national championship to Eugene six years after their heartbreak at Illinois' hands.
30. 2011 Wisconsin - These Badgers get the lowest rung on this list for a very straightforward reason - they remain the lowest-ranked wild card team to advance to a Rose Bowl, had two losses, and did it a year after being the first wild-card team to win a Rose Bowl. The 2010 group was more talented and had the scalp of undefeated two-time national champion Ohio State on its roster, but you only play the games in front of you, and this Badger team won a tough road gauntlet of Kansas State, top-ranked Oregon, and second-ranked Michigan State in a revenge match in East Lansing on its way to facing off against West Virginia in Pasadena, winning on a late drop kick. The "Gang at Twelve" will always be legends in bringing a repeat championship to Madison, and are probably a fan favorite, but they were probably not the best team that year, just the team that got hot at the right team.
29. 2010 Wisconsin - The 2010 Badgers dropped only a match to Michigan State and for that got the 9-seed, punctuating their season with a glorious upset of two-time national champions Ohio State at home in Madison as what was at that time the only blemish on the Buckeyes' record. Led by Chris Boland and JJ Watt in rucks, the Badgers dominated the scrum all year long and engineered road upsets of decent Nebraska and Utah groups on the road before taking on Oregon in Pasadena, handing the Ducks their second consecutive Rose Bowl loss in added minutes to become the first-ever wild card to win the Rose Bowl - and then watched a less talented, less winning group do it again the next year.
28. 2003 Pittsburgh - The 2003 Panthers delivered Pitt its first championship since 1987 in dazzling fashion, with all-time fly-half Larry Fitzgerald carrying Dave Wannstedt's team on his back to both a Heisman and the Rose Bowl. The reputation of the '03 Panthers as a one-man show is unfair, but its not clear that this was even the best or most balanced group Wannstedt managed. Pitt got a Kansas State at the end of its playoff run and an Ohio State depleted by graduations from its national championship roster and beat up over two hard road games in the first two rounds before facing an overrated Michigan missing several players due to arrests at a New Year's Eve party brawl in Los Angeles the night before. Do they deserve an asterisk? Hardly, but they definitely don't warrant higher on this list.
27. 2006 Rutgers - Despite the ample talent in New Jersey prep rugby ranks, the state's reputation as a youth football hotbed and Rutgers' status as a footballing powerhouse have always given Scarlet Knights rugby short shrift. Not in 2006, though, where a group powered by Brian Cushing and Ray Rice earned a 3-seed in the Playoff and defeated USC at home before scoring one of the great upsets in the history of the game knocking out mighty undefeated Michigan, which most sportswriters had already assumed would win the championship, in extra time. Greg Schiano will forever be a hero in Brunswick, New Jersey - a shame Rutgers never advanced to a playoff after 2006 to show what they could do, and that they advanced through what was considered even then an unusually weak Playoff field.
26. 2009 Ohio State - The Buckeyes of 2009 joined the 2011 Badgers as one of two sides to win a national championship with two losses, and only belong here due to A) winning the Big Eight anyways and B) blasting their way through the Playoffs as an unstoppable juggernaut culminating with a domination of Oregon in the Rose Bowl. Nonetheless, this is easily the worst of Jim Tressel's five championship rosters in Columbus, and one can make a credible argument they were not even the best team in the Big Eight that season with some lucky breaks along the way; a home loss to a mediocre USC in the second match of the season is often forgiven here, as their destruction at the Coliseum to kick off 2008 is, too.
25. 2001 Illinois - The 2001 season was famed for its twists and turns, and its conclusion - with Illinois defeating Oregon in a 44-42 thriller to earn its first national championship since 1983 - was no different. The Illini got an unearned reputation for being "lucky," but being the last team standing in a year of upsets and teams bursting suddenly onto the scene is as much an achievement as more famed groups with deeper talent.
24. 2020 Notre Dame
23. 1998 Arizona State - The '98 Sun Devils have always lived in the long shadow of the 1996 squad that went undefeated and eviscerated the competition two seasons earlier, but this group was no slouch, either. Dropping only their final game of the year to a talented Arizona side in their rivalry game, the Devils under Bruce Snyder earned a respectable 4 seed and beat a good emerging Marshall team at home before upsetting arguably John Cooper's finest group at Ohio State in the Horseshoe the next weekend and closed it all off by beating the heavily favored UCLA Bruins on home ground in the Rose Bowl. These Sun Devils get this ranking for numerous controversies and suspensions throughout the season and their reputation as the "Dirty Devils," and allegations of match fixing against BYU and Colorado have plagued them for decades since.
23. 2020 Notre Dame - Notre Dame brought home its first championship since 1993 a few years ago with a well-balanced group in an unusually weak field in what is widely regarded as one of the worst college rugby seasons in history (or best, if you like balance). As one of only three one-loss teams in the country, Notre Dame barely eked out victories at home against Indiana and Iowa State in the quarterfinal and semifinal before a match against a heavily favored Ohio State, whom the Irish upset thanks to a late fumble that Moses Williams ran back for an inexplicable try. Still, this wasn't a bad team, it just is one that you can't clearly place ahead of other groups on this list.
22. 1995 Colorado - This was the squad that finally got to the promised land - for years, Colorado had been one of the best teams in the country, always on the cusp of glory, almost keeping strong BYU, Colorado State and Arizona State squads at bay, only to be struck by playoff heartbreak. Their only loss was a non-conference rivalry defeat to Nebraska at home, otherwise the team was one of the highest-scoring in the country under first-year coach Rick Neuheisel, hired in a major gamble by the Colorado athletic department to shake things up. Colorado got its revenge on Nebraska in the semifinal, beating them in Lancaster, and then took out Cinderella squad Northwestern in the Rose Bowl to bring the first-ever national championship back to Boulder. Neuheisel's reign never reached those heights again, and often elicited more than a little controversy, but the Buffs will always have 1995, even if it quite plainly was not the best group in team history.
21. 2007 Oregon - This was the Oregon team that finally, at long last, got over the hump after so many years of it being said that Oregon was "close." Despite an ugly loss to California at home early in the year, the Ducks rallied and dominated the Pacific Eight the rest of the season, including a beatdown of USC. From the fourth seed, the Ducks' high-scoring squad led by Heisman winner Jonathan Stewart beat good BYU and Ohio State teams before facing top-ranked Missouri in Pasadena and beating them in a blowout to bring the first-ever national championship to Eugene six years after their heartbreak at Illinois' hands.
Great stuff and Easter Eggs, especially Brian Cushing breaking USC hearts rather than being a Trojan.
Did you ever come to a decision as to what the conferences are for USA/CSA/Texas schools? I know we discussed that but it was a while ago.
Did you ever come to a decision as to what the conferences are for USA/CSA/Texas schools? I know we discussed that but it was a while ago.
Ranking the 8+4 Era Rose Bowl Champions (20-11)
20. 1999 Marshall - Marshall's sole national championship came from a period in which the Thundering Herd surprised the college rugby world by emerging as a consistent NEAL powerhouse in the late 1990s and early 2000s, but nothing ever topped their remarkable miracle run to the 86th Rose Bowl where they upset heavily-favored Wisconsin after beating Oregon and Kansas State at home. While forgotten to an extent in the annals of Rose Bowl history, this was nonetheless a gritty, great team - particularly in the ruck - that deserved to lift the trophy at year end.
19. 2004 California - Sometimes a season comes down to one shining moment, and for the 2004 California Bears, that moment was upsetting the USC Trojans, regarded as one of the best teams in the country at that moment in time due to the tandem of Brandon Hancock, Lofa Tatupu, LenDale White and the electric Keith Rivers out of the back. The Cal Bears had another idea, though, with freshman phenom and 2006 Heisman winner Marshawn Lynch carrying the day at the Coliseum. So how does an undefeated team rank so low? From a points differential and defensive point of view, the California Bears feasted on an atypically weak Pacific Eight slate and struggled to get past mediocre Arizona State, Chicago and Utah teams on their way to their first national championship since 1950. One game set the tone for the whole year, and its that other game down south that is remembered so fondly in Berkeley rather than the season's conclusion with silverware.
18. 2019 Oregon - One can be forgiven for considering 2019 Oregon to be a confounding team. It was nowhere near the power of the early 2010s, when Oregon became infamous for botching Rose Bowl and Playoff appearances, and it got extremely lucky to face Washington and USC squads that had hemorrhaged much of their talent from the past several seasons. Nonetheless, despite a baffling loss on the road at Washington State in midseason, they remained a sharp outfit throughout the year and certainly warranted their fourth-ranked position; the road upset of Utah in the semifinal in heavy snow deserves to be the stuff of legends in Eugene, and then upsetting undefeated Ohio State in the Rose Bowl to exorcise the demons of Januaries past.
17. 2008 Ohio State - The 2008 Ohio State Buckeyes are something of Schrodinger's cat of championship squads. In twelve of the thirteen matches they played, they were easily the best team on the field, powered by Heisman winner Chris Wells and Heisman runner-up James Laurinatis. On one September night in Los Angeles, however, they suffered one of the worst losses of Jim Tressel's storied career, getting run out of the Coliseum by the Trojans with only a drop kick on the board. Over the course of the subsequent eleven games, after a heartfelt speech by Laurinatis to the media after the game, the Buckeyes reached another gear, punctuated by avenging their 2006 home loss to Michigan in the Horseshoe in an utter drubbing of coach Les Miles in his first season with his alma mater, and then knocking out Missouri and undefeated Penn State in the subsequent semifinals before the much-anticipated rematch with USC in the Rose Bowl, which the Buckeyes won in added time to hand Tressel his second and most deserved title. This group is probably not as good as Tressel's other three championship squads - but ask anyone in Columbus and they'll tell you who is first in the hearts of Buckeye faithful.
16. 2016 Washington - Washington in 2016 sported a fantastic mix of youth and experience as Chris Petersen joined Tressel as one of the few men to win both an IAA First Division national title as well as a Rose Bowl championship. Kevin King, Myles Gaskin, Sean Constantine, Budda Baker, Javon Coleman, John Ross - this team was stacked front to back. Besides a bizarre loss to USC on the road as the sole blemish, this was a great team, but like some other groups on this list, was it the best team even in its own year? Coming in on a third seed behind remarkable Penn State and Ohio State squads, UW impressed by beating both of the higher-ranked teams (in what would be Jim Tressel's final college game), but a very credible argument can be made that they were a notch below and simply got hot at playoff time, though that's not an argument you'll hear on Montlake, ever.
15. 2000 Washington - As exciting as 2016 wound up being for Washington, it was the 2000 squad that truly belongs in their hearts. Coming out of a three-way tie with the Oregon schools for first in the Pacific Eight, the Huskies leaned on Heisman winner Marques Tuiasasosopo to score try after try on their way into the 87th Rose Bowl, helping end John Cooper's career at Ohio State and breaking Bill Snyder's heart at Kansas State in the process as they topped top-ranked K-State in a thriller to give longtime Don James protege Jim Lambright a title and help soothe the trouble that comes with being the man after "the Man."
14. 2014 Ohio State - Of all the one-loss teams on this list, only one is clearly better (more on that to come), and the 2014 Ohio State Buckeyes were a remarkable group, a fascinating blend of speed and power, freshmen talent and senior discipline. The side went undefeated in league play, their sole loss coming to a rising Penn State on the road in added time at University Park. Ezekiel Elliott became the first sophomore to win the Heisman, and Ohio State defeated rivals Michigan State for a second time that season, this time at home, before knocking out surprising Dakota State and a great Oregon team to deliver Jim Tressel his fifth and, as it turned out, final Rose Bowl Trophy.
13. 2021 Cincinnati - Ohio State's curious decision to bring Tom Herman back to Columbus after Jim Tressel's surprise retirement was likely only done because longtime forwards coach Luke Fickell had decided to decamp to Cincinnati after years as an understudy the same offseason, and that redounded to Cincinnati's benefit as she earned her first national championship since 1903 behind a tough, take-no-prisoners defense scheme and careful ball control. An undefeated slate and dispatching a good Michigan State group, the defending national champions in Notre Dame and then top-seeded Michigan (which Fickell himself admits he resented for being ranked above his Bearcats even with a loss) delivered a great result in one of the wilder Rose Bowl Playoffs in recent memory. The positioning of the '21 Bearcats is no slight to them - we just think that a good number of other squads deserve a higher position in this list, in part because Cincinnati gorged on an easy NEAL schedule with only two other teams winning more than four conference matchups.
12. 2017 Wisconsin - You play the games ahead of you, and Wisconsin in 2017 delivered the program an undefeated season, Big Eight championship, and Rose Bowl title. Why so low, then? Points differential was the difference here, as was a very light slate with the Buckeyes falling off in their first season under Tom Herman, Michigan still getting her sea legs under Jim Harbaugh, and other teams in the Big Eight retooling. The '17 Badgers did not face a truly top-tier opponent until Notre Dame in the semifinals or Penn State in the Rose Bowl, and if you replayed the 104th Rose Bowl another nine times, we'd bet the Nits take a strong majority of those matches. But the Badgers won their match, and delivered Bret Bielema a third national championship on the backs of easily his best unit in Madison
11. 1997 Michigan - Lloyd Carr's sole championship in Ann Arbor came thanks to a stout forward line, an all-time two-way wing in Charles Woodson, and an all-time Rose Bowl matchup against fellow unbeaten Nebraska after dispatching a good, one-loss Kansas State followed by defending national champions Arizona State. The narrow, grind-out win over Nebraska to deny Tom Osborne a coveted national championship and the conclusion of a season where the two best teams certainly faced off may have been the stuff of college rugby legend to those in Michigan, but it's hard to place this team higher on the list of champions with other units simply looking more decisive, more dominant, and playing in today's tougher, more competitive era of college rugby.
19. 2004 California - Sometimes a season comes down to one shining moment, and for the 2004 California Bears, that moment was upsetting the USC Trojans, regarded as one of the best teams in the country at that moment in time due to the tandem of Brandon Hancock, Lofa Tatupu, LenDale White and the electric Keith Rivers out of the back. The Cal Bears had another idea, though, with freshman phenom and 2006 Heisman winner Marshawn Lynch carrying the day at the Coliseum. So how does an undefeated team rank so low? From a points differential and defensive point of view, the California Bears feasted on an atypically weak Pacific Eight slate and struggled to get past mediocre Arizona State, Chicago and Utah teams on their way to their first national championship since 1950. One game set the tone for the whole year, and its that other game down south that is remembered so fondly in Berkeley rather than the season's conclusion with silverware.
18. 2019 Oregon - One can be forgiven for considering 2019 Oregon to be a confounding team. It was nowhere near the power of the early 2010s, when Oregon became infamous for botching Rose Bowl and Playoff appearances, and it got extremely lucky to face Washington and USC squads that had hemorrhaged much of their talent from the past several seasons. Nonetheless, despite a baffling loss on the road at Washington State in midseason, they remained a sharp outfit throughout the year and certainly warranted their fourth-ranked position; the road upset of Utah in the semifinal in heavy snow deserves to be the stuff of legends in Eugene, and then upsetting undefeated Ohio State in the Rose Bowl to exorcise the demons of Januaries past.
17. 2008 Ohio State - The 2008 Ohio State Buckeyes are something of Schrodinger's cat of championship squads. In twelve of the thirteen matches they played, they were easily the best team on the field, powered by Heisman winner Chris Wells and Heisman runner-up James Laurinatis. On one September night in Los Angeles, however, they suffered one of the worst losses of Jim Tressel's storied career, getting run out of the Coliseum by the Trojans with only a drop kick on the board. Over the course of the subsequent eleven games, after a heartfelt speech by Laurinatis to the media after the game, the Buckeyes reached another gear, punctuated by avenging their 2006 home loss to Michigan in the Horseshoe in an utter drubbing of coach Les Miles in his first season with his alma mater, and then knocking out Missouri and undefeated Penn State in the subsequent semifinals before the much-anticipated rematch with USC in the Rose Bowl, which the Buckeyes won in added time to hand Tressel his second and most deserved title. This group is probably not as good as Tressel's other three championship squads - but ask anyone in Columbus and they'll tell you who is first in the hearts of Buckeye faithful.
16. 2016 Washington - Washington in 2016 sported a fantastic mix of youth and experience as Chris Petersen joined Tressel as one of the few men to win both an IAA First Division national title as well as a Rose Bowl championship. Kevin King, Myles Gaskin, Sean Constantine, Budda Baker, Javon Coleman, John Ross - this team was stacked front to back. Besides a bizarre loss to USC on the road as the sole blemish, this was a great team, but like some other groups on this list, was it the best team even in its own year? Coming in on a third seed behind remarkable Penn State and Ohio State squads, UW impressed by beating both of the higher-ranked teams (in what would be Jim Tressel's final college game), but a very credible argument can be made that they were a notch below and simply got hot at playoff time, though that's not an argument you'll hear on Montlake, ever.
15. 2000 Washington - As exciting as 2016 wound up being for Washington, it was the 2000 squad that truly belongs in their hearts. Coming out of a three-way tie with the Oregon schools for first in the Pacific Eight, the Huskies leaned on Heisman winner Marques Tuiasasosopo to score try after try on their way into the 87th Rose Bowl, helping end John Cooper's career at Ohio State and breaking Bill Snyder's heart at Kansas State in the process as they topped top-ranked K-State in a thriller to give longtime Don James protege Jim Lambright a title and help soothe the trouble that comes with being the man after "the Man."
14. 2014 Ohio State - Of all the one-loss teams on this list, only one is clearly better (more on that to come), and the 2014 Ohio State Buckeyes were a remarkable group, a fascinating blend of speed and power, freshmen talent and senior discipline. The side went undefeated in league play, their sole loss coming to a rising Penn State on the road in added time at University Park. Ezekiel Elliott became the first sophomore to win the Heisman, and Ohio State defeated rivals Michigan State for a second time that season, this time at home, before knocking out surprising Dakota State and a great Oregon team to deliver Jim Tressel his fifth and, as it turned out, final Rose Bowl Trophy.
13. 2021 Cincinnati - Ohio State's curious decision to bring Tom Herman back to Columbus after Jim Tressel's surprise retirement was likely only done because longtime forwards coach Luke Fickell had decided to decamp to Cincinnati after years as an understudy the same offseason, and that redounded to Cincinnati's benefit as she earned her first national championship since 1903 behind a tough, take-no-prisoners defense scheme and careful ball control. An undefeated slate and dispatching a good Michigan State group, the defending national champions in Notre Dame and then top-seeded Michigan (which Fickell himself admits he resented for being ranked above his Bearcats even with a loss) delivered a great result in one of the wilder Rose Bowl Playoffs in recent memory. The positioning of the '21 Bearcats is no slight to them - we just think that a good number of other squads deserve a higher position in this list, in part because Cincinnati gorged on an easy NEAL schedule with only two other teams winning more than four conference matchups.
12. 2017 Wisconsin - You play the games ahead of you, and Wisconsin in 2017 delivered the program an undefeated season, Big Eight championship, and Rose Bowl title. Why so low, then? Points differential was the difference here, as was a very light slate with the Buckeyes falling off in their first season under Tom Herman, Michigan still getting her sea legs under Jim Harbaugh, and other teams in the Big Eight retooling. The '17 Badgers did not face a truly top-tier opponent until Notre Dame in the semifinals or Penn State in the Rose Bowl, and if you replayed the 104th Rose Bowl another nine times, we'd bet the Nits take a strong majority of those matches. But the Badgers won their match, and delivered Bret Bielema a third national championship on the backs of easily his best unit in Madison
11. 1997 Michigan - Lloyd Carr's sole championship in Ann Arbor came thanks to a stout forward line, an all-time two-way wing in Charles Woodson, and an all-time Rose Bowl matchup against fellow unbeaten Nebraska after dispatching a good, one-loss Kansas State followed by defending national champions Arizona State. The narrow, grind-out win over Nebraska to deny Tom Osborne a coveted national championship and the conclusion of a season where the two best teams certainly faced off may have been the stuff of college rugby legend to those in Michigan, but it's hard to place this team higher on the list of champions with other units simply looking more decisive, more dominant, and playing in today's tougher, more competitive era of college rugby.
Corsica is a geographically large prize, but not that important population wise, and it keeps your Italian friends happy. Easy win.
Typo. It's meant to be the same guy. Jong is the family name in Korean parlance, anyways.
But there are way more Christians in ITTL Korea, especially in the north.
Thanks!
I more or less used the conference alignments we gamed out but I can repost the finalized version if you'd like.
ITESM?I'm just waiting for the ITESM to be in one of these collegiate entries.
Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM; English: Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education),
Do *any* of the collegiate sports cross the borders (Canada/Quebec/CSA/Sequoyah/Texas/Mexico) iTTL?
(And I've completely forgotten what happened to Alaska)
If you don't mind sure, but if it is a hassle no big deal.